Staff Relationships

A commander’s staff is a group of officers and noncommissioned officers that assist the commander with making and implementing decisions. This entry describes the functions, responsibilities, and organization of a commander’s staff in the U.S. military.

The staff aids the commander by anticipating decision points in an operation and providing relevant information so that the commander can make and implement better decisions faster than the enemy can. The coordinating staff, commonly referred to as the primary staff, consists of personnel, intelligence, operations, logistics, plans, and communications officers. Special staff includes fire support, civil-military, and psychological operations officers, among others. Commanders also have a personal staff that usually consists of the senior enlisted member and [Page 1318]a chaplain, but the personal staff is designated at the commander’s ...